Castlevania: Angel of Shadows
by jonathan.v.hynes
Summary: One of the most climactic and suspenseful stories of all time in the Belmont legacy, this story will tell of the epic final battle between Belmont and Belmont. In this romantic supernatural adventure story, telling of a man whose wife is pregnant with their son, who is about to look chaos and death in the face and bring it down. Read about the thrilling fall of the prince of death.
1. The Man in the Mask

_The year is 1998. a veil of darkness corrupts the innocent, turning all of England into a mindless, savage land. The only one not affected is the one who had caused it many years ago; the same man to come to one Julius Belmont's door in the pouring rain..._

Bang. "Julius! Open the door!"

The door bursts open to reveal a much surprised Julius sporting a dagger. When he realized who it was, the dagger dissolved into light and joined the necklace he wore. "Arikado! What are you doing here?" He stepped out. The boy was only nineteen, but he had well-defined muscles, trained his whole life to wield a whip he couldn't hold. "Where is it, man?"

Arikado had a solemn look etched on his handsome face. "It's gone."

Julius seemed to be confused. "Where is it?"

"I don't know. I asked Charlotte, and I was given the same answer. I searched the Morris house and came up empty. May I come in? I simply must get out of this damned rain."

Julius widened the door and stepped aside for Arikado to enter. "There are some letters from Richter that were never sent to the Morrises. They're in the writing desk in the fourth room down the hall, on the left." He started down the other passageway.

"Julius. Where are you going?" Arikado asked. He peered down the hall only to see a pretty girl dive back into a room with an open door. She shut the door with a snap. "Who was that?" Julius blushed a deep shade of magenta.

"It's not really any of your business, but if you need to know, it's my girlfriend. I'm having her go through our - _my_ room, that is - for information. I haven't found anything on the prophecy yet, but I hope to soon. this is a big house, after all." He turned and walked down the hall and gently opened the door and closed it behind him.

"Fourth door on the left, did he say?" Julius wasn't wrong. The house was almost like a mansion, filled with bookshelves, they had a library filled with bibles, scrolls, ancient magical texts, and many others. They had a kitchen that was run by magic. "He speaks of destiny so casually... almost as if he doesn't even care." He turned into the room and saw that it was not a high ceiling room as the others were, but was furnished with two silver filing cabinets - one on either side - a large writing desk, and aa chair on wheels. Above the desk hung a clock with a pendulum swinging noisily below it.

Arikado walked up to the desk and examined the familiar clock. Etched in tiny, sloppy letters read 'Simon's defeat of Count Dracula'. "Hm. What a brave line of men and women. I didn't know he stole one of these from the clock tower." He pulled out the drawer on the left and found pens, quills, pencils, among other writing utensils. He opened the other drawers to find papers, envelopes, stamps, and inkpots.

In the filing cabinet on the left, The top drawer was empty, but there were still some shavings and erasers in the bottom of the drawer, and Arikado took that to mean that it was recently emptied. The bottom drawer held files filled with ancient sketches of sub weapon and the necklace that Julius, among other Belmonts and Arikado himself, wore around their necks.

The filing cabinet on the right contained files full of old letters from the Hakuba, Morris, Aulin, and Belnades clans. Arikado pulled one out and saw that it was from Richter to Hunter Belmont, Julius's father. Arikado put it back in the drawer and opened the last drawer.

There were four sealed letters from Richter to John Morris, and one to Jonathan, John's son. Arikado pulled out the letter to Jonathan and opened it.

 _I know you feel angry at your father, but all will be revealed in time. You may feel frustrated, angry, even. I do not blame you. As bad as you feel, you are humanity's only hope. I have news that Dracula's castle has been active recently. I would appreciate it if you could look for clues as to why this is so. Please don't give up._

 _Your friend,_

 _Richter._

Arikado placed the letter in the drawer again and reached for one to John. He was about to open it when he heard the sound of running footsteps. The door to the room swung open, and Julius another dagger in his hand. "We simply must stop this tradition," Arikado said. Julius agreed and the dagger dissolved once more into light. "Now, tell me what is wrong, boy."

Julius looked into Genya's cold, grey eyes. "A man just came to our room. Scared her to pieces... Arikado. He... he had the Vampire Killer. I saw it."

Arikado stepped forward. "Where is he now?"

"I don't know."

"What does that mean?"

"I summoned a cross, and when I did, he... vanished."

"What did he say?"

"H-he told me to stop looking for the whip. He wanted the sub weapon necklace."

What did the girl do? Is she..." Arikado leaned over and examined the shy girl. She was very pretty. Julius moved aside and she stepped into the room.

"I'm not 'the girl'. My name is Yamelia Freeman. You must be Genya Arikado, Julius's, er, business partner?"

Arikado nodded. "Indeed. Tell me more about this man." Julius told Arikado about the man, but he was wearing a hood and mask. "I see. If you'll excuse me, I must examine the place where he... 'vanished'".

Julius and Yamelia led Arikado to the doorway of their room. "Did she move from this spot?" They shook their heads. Arikado examined it with great care. "There appear to be faint traces of dark magic. Should I unseal my power, I might be able to use the traces of magic to track him down. However, I cannot."

"Why not?" Yamelia inquired.

Julius answered before Arikado had a chance. "Because his seal keeps his dark power from drawing the demons and monsters to him. Unsealing it would also send a ripple of power strong enough to wake Dracula himself." There was an awkward pause at the name "Dracula". Arikado was the first to break the silence.

"Julius, have you spoken with Natasha recently?" he asked thoughtfully. Julius opened his mouth to answer and suddenly looked over at Yamelia, who was looking in the opposite direction, blushing furiously. "Yamelia, perhaps you should-"

"Yeah. I'll be in the other room. Don't mind me." She strutted out of the room in a dignified sort of way. The two men felt another mutual awkwardness.

"Sorry about that, she-"

"Don't worry about it. Tell me, have you heard from _any_ of the Belnades clan?" Julius thought about it for a second, looked at the doorway, and then shut and locked the door. Then he pulled out his phone.

"I've been meaning to show you this, but I didn't want Yamelia getting too worked up over that man, but... I have reason to believe that he has been stalking the Belnades and Belmonts for over two months." For once, he looked genuinely scared. He stared at Arikado for support. It took Arikado a long time to respond - he seemed to be trying to think about what he was going to say carefully.

"Stay inside the house," he said slowly, "I will draw a sealing circle around the house. I will bring your food as well... don't leave unless told. Do you understand?" He said sharply. Julius looked stunned, and then he closed his mouth and nodded silently. "I will figure out who this man is.


	2. Chapter 2: The Letters

Arikado sifted through the trash cans outside of the manor. This is where his tracking spell led him, but so far, his efforts remained futile.

"emoc ot em, tsol luos!" Arikado muttered, hoping to find what he needed soon. The brick wall behind the cans rang out a melody. He deciphered this through his finely tuned echolocation. He moved the cans aside and felt along the wall. one of the bricks gave under his fingertips.

He pushed, and a brick-shaped hole opened up. He pulled at the others, but nothing happened. He stuck his hand in the small space and found two letters. One was addressed to Charlotte Morris, and one was addressed to someone named "G". As he reached out, his fingers tingled, as though he had touched a spiderweb. The letters erupted in flames. "No! Eb efas!" he yelled as he reached out to grab them. A bubble formed around them and the fire was extinguished. It was too late.

He heard a grinding noise as he stood up with the bubble filled with ash. the ground was melting into a circular pit in front of him. Slowly, the ground rose, and there stood a great horned beast. It had the legs and head of a bull and the torso and arms of a man. A minotaur. Arikado ran forward and ripped out the beast's heart before it could even move. It crumbed into nothing.

He absorbed the heart into his bracelet and walked off calmly. He went inside the house and opened the bubble over the table. "riaper flesrouy," he spoke to the ash. The pile spread out and gradually turned grey, then white. He picked up the first of the repaired letters, addressed to Charlotte. It read:

 _Dear Mrs. Morris,_

 _I will be coming later next week time to get the Book of Bron. could you please set it out for me?_

 _Your favorite,_

 _Gabbie_

Arikado set down the letter and picked up the other. His time was up. They both crumbled again into ash. Arikado took a deep breath and stood up. He took out a vial and carefully swept the ashes into the bottle and stoppered it. Then he heard the _crack_ of a whip behind him. He put the vial into his pocket and turned around, simultaneously backdashing. He looked up at the visitor.

"Hello, Al-"

"Do not speak that name, please," said Arikado. The man's voice was warped and garbled. It was clearly disguised. Arikado pulled out a chair and gestured to it.

"No thank you, although I do appreciate your hospitality. I merely came for your bracelet." The man held out his hand, and Arikado noticed that his fingers were very small. Like a woman's. Then he saw the whip, and noticed that it was in Chaos form - a metal chain. Sometimes it was leather, in its Calm form. "Are you going to stare or are you going to hand me the bracelet?"

"I think I will continue to stare, thank you, although I do appreciate your respect," he said, voice heavy with irony. "However, I have a rather deep attachment to this bracelet, so I think I shall keep it. Unless your need for it surpasses my own? Hm?" He slid the bracelet off his wrist and dangled it from one hand.

"I do believe that it does. You see, I am working on... you might say, a collection. What I am doing is for the benefit of man." The man reached out and took the bracelet from Arikado. Julius burst into the room.

"No! Arikado, what the hell is this?!" He pulled out a dagger and threw it with precision at Arikado, who caught it and held it out to Julius.

"This is a relative of yours, Julius. Take a seat. Both of you," Arikado said.

Julius looked stunned. He closed his mouth and sat in the indicated chair. "Allow me to explain. The first thing I noticed was the GB engraved in the hilt of the vampire killer, meaning that at the moment, it belongs to young Gabriella here."

Gabriella gasped and her fists tightened on the hilt of the whip.

"You... you read my letters, didn't you, you bastard?!"

"There's no need to get upset, Gab-" But he didn't get any further. She grabbed him by the arm and they disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3: Death

"No!" Julius screamed. he flung the table over and covered his head. "Arikado!" Suddenly Yamelia burst into the room.

"Julius! What's wrong?" she tried to put her arms around him. His body's temperature was incredible. He began to glow with a blue haze. the walls began to crumble. The glass window above the sink shattered. The air in the room began to swirl around him.

Suddenly the light fixtures exploded, showering them both with sparks. Yamelia let out a scream. Julius looked over. His eyes were glowing with a silver light. Suddenly, everything stopped. The wind died down. Yamelia was curled up on the floor holding her stomach. She wasn't crying, but her eyes were wide with fear.

Julius crumpled to his knees. the glass from the window covered the floor. He crawled over to her. "No!" She slapped his hands away and backed up. He wasn't angry. He stood up and began to clean the floor. he went to the cupboard to get a broom. When he came back yamelia was gone.

"Yame?" He ran out of the room and into the terrace outside. The sight that greeted him was like nothing he had ever seen. "No!" Yamelia was hanging limply by the hair, wich was wrapped tightly around the skeletal hand of...

"DEATH!" Julius roared. There was a cut on her forehead, and she seemed to be unconscious. Death turned his head to sneer at the boy.

"The maiden's death upsets me as well, Belmont. I have no ransom. But wait..." He drew his iron scythe from a Hellgate and touched it to her stomach. Julius suddenly understood. His scream was too late, and Death ripped the soul of their child from his wife's body.

"Why?!" Screamed Julius. Death laughed and dropped Yamelia's body. Julius ran forward to catch her. She landed in his arms. He fell to his knees from it.

"Why?" Death repeated. "You are a Belmont, child. I need no other reason. However... there are greater things at work than you know. Or has Alucard not told you yet? Hahahahaha... Farewell, son of Belmont."

Julius fell over his wife as Death disappeared. He began to sob. Now he had nothing but his cursed legacy left. "ARIKADO!"


End file.
